NWWC 2016 - You missed another great one! Our second National Water & Wastewater Conference was another great success, if I do say so myself. Those who did attend (over 500), I thank you and I know I can count on you to spread the word about the quality of this professional conference. To say it in one run-on sentence, we broke records for attendance, sold out the exhibitor booths, produced a most-professional, multi-streamed program for utility leaders in a wonderful hotel with great food – and hosted a few great receptions too. We are barley back in the office and getting organized, so we’ll send out a full conference report in another week.

ISO TC 224 has been challenged by ISO TC 6/SC 2 (pulp and paper products) as working outside the scope of TC 224 and of trespassing on the exclusive authority of TC 6/SC 2 to write test methods for tissue papers. Unfortunately, the first challenge is technically valid (although TC 224 has been in the process of re-writing its Scope since 2015, and will do so shortly). However, the second challenge represents a deliberate miss-understanding of what the flushables Working Group is all about: it is establishing the quality and characteristics of products that may be labelled by their manufacturers as being flushable, or which by the location of their use and the nature of post-use contamination with fecal materials or body fluids are likely to be flushed.

The Department of the Environment published in the October 8, 2016 edition of Canada Gazette Part 1, proposed Environmental Emergency Regulations, 2016, pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999). The objective of the proposed regulations is to further enhance environmental emergency management (EEM) in Canada.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced October 15, 2016, that the federal government has joined nearly 200 countries in signing on to the Kigali amendments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer designed to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

The Smart Prosperity Institute has released a report entitled New Solutions for Sustainable Stormwater Management in Canada. The report acts as a primer for municipalities in Canada on best practices in modernizing their stormwater infrastructure and taxation.

Last month, Dianne Saxe, Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner issued a report sub-titled: Small Steps Forward, which notes that "much remains to be done" to improve environmental protection and conservation in the province.

The Commissioner’s two-volume 2015/2016 Environmental Protection Report notes that "while the Ministry of Environmental and Climate Change (MOECC) .has, at last, begun posting public progress updates on its outstanding applications for review, it is still responsible for more than 400 outdated Environmenta

A summary of feedback from more than 250 respondents to the New Brunswick government’s water strategy consultations this past spring (2016) was recently posted online. The current status of the Water Classification Regulation under the Clean Water Act was a frequently raised concern. In response, the province is establishing a technical working group to look at the issue in depth and provide recommendations while developing the overall water strategy.

CBCWhen Finance Minister Bill Morneau stood up in the House of Commons Tuesday to announce he would be adding tens of billions in additional money into an already hefty infrastructure plan, he had more than just conviction driving him.

Bloomberg BNAThe Environmental Protection Agency has begun investigating whether state or local officials discriminated against Flint, Mich., residents in actions related to the city’s drinking water crisis.

The federal agency wants to know whether Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality, Genesee County and the city of Flint discriminated or had a discriminatory impact based on race, color, national origin or disability in notifying residents of the contamination in their tap water. Investigators will review whether government officials failed to implement procedures to comply with non-discrimination requirements.

AWWA Water Utility InsiderThe EPA has launched a suite of three new cyanotoxins management resources aimed at assisting water utilities in planning for, responding to and communicating about cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins events.

Water canadaThe Smart Prosperity Institute has released a report entitled New Solutions for Sustainable Stormwater Management in Canada. The report acts as a primer for municipalities in Canada on best practices in modernizing their stormwater infrastructure and taxation.

Water CanadaA study by scientists at the University of Utah used water isotopes to track the cycle of postprecipitation water through urban water systems. In order to map the connections, the researchers collected and analyzed water samples from 800 taps across the Salt Lake Valley of northern Utah in semiannual water surveys from 2013–2015.

TribTalkUtility customers in drought-afflicted areas in Texas have lately been faced with what appears, on the surface, to be a paradox: watching their water bills go up even as they use less. The immediate math is simple. When utilities encourage conservation, customers use less water, which means less revenue for those utilities. But what few utilities and officials — not to mention increasingly frustrated headlines in Texas and across the country — point out is that in actuality, customers who conserve water are using less to pay less over time.

AWWA ConnecttionsAre the salary increases of water professionals keepSenior chemists at medium-sized utilities saw higher-than-average increases from last year to this year, as did senior water treatment operators at large utilities, who earn an average of $59,868. But salaries of the most experienced operators at medium-sized utilities remain relatively flat at $55,755.ing up with those of other employees? Well, that depends.

InfoNews.caNew wastewater system design guidelines developed at UBC can help municipal governments better protect aquatic life and save millions of dollars a year.In a recent study, engineers at UBC’s Okanagan campus developed guidelines that can tailor the design of specialized filters, called fluidized bed reactors, to local conditions and help prevent phosphorous deposits from forming in wastewater systems.

Waterloo RecordCity hall staff want the province to give more priority to municipal water needs, as opposed to non-municipal needs such as Nestlé's water bottling in Aberfoyle.

"Greater weight needs to be given to future municipal water supply requirements over non-municipal water-takings, in order to ensure groundwater-based municipalities like Guelph can achieve provincially mandated population and employment growth targets," says a memo written by city hall's top water officials that council will be asked to support on Nov. 28.

CBCResearchers from York University in Toronto have created a product that uses sugar to lure E. coli in drinking water into a deadly trap. DipTreat uses glucose to fish E. coli from water, traps the bacteria within a porous paper matrix, and kills them using the antimicrobial properties of moringa seed extract — commonly known as drumstick or horseradish tree.

WaterCanadaOttawa has installed wireless sensors in its regions waterways as a part of a pilot project with Ericsson and Rogers Communications to monitor water quality in real-time.The pilot will leverage a combination of Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and LTE mobile broadband technologies to gather real-time data that city staff can use to better predict, prevent, and respond to potential issues related to water quality, including cleanliness and abnormal temperatures.